The Bodyguard
by kesdax
Summary: Sameen Shaw is a bodyguard for hire. Samantha Groves is a lonely housewife with a bounty on her head. But what Shaw thinks is going to be an easy job slowly becomes more complicated when her growing attraction to her client doesn't appear to be disappearing anytime soon.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **Sameen Shaw is a bodyguard for hire. Samantha Groves is a lonely housewife with a bounty on her head. But what Shaw thinks is going to be an easy job slowly becomes more complicated when her growing attraction to her client doesn't appear to be disappearing anytime soon. That and a deep seated family conspiracy which soon comes to light sets off a chain of events that will forever change Shaw's life.

* * *

Even though they were halfway through spring, it was still freezing out and Shaw had to bundle up in more layers than she would have liked. But at least it had the added benefit of providing her with more places to conceal weapons, and for Sameen Shaw, that was always a bonus point. She counted an inventory of them in her head, noted which weapon would be of easiest access in certain scenarios. It was a habit she had gotten into and never really gotten out of when she started this job, more of a way to alleviate the boredom and pass the time than anything else.

Shaw made her way up 5th Avenue towards Lenox Hill, double checking the address on her phone that she had been sent that morning. She knew no more information than that, but she could guess what type of client it would be just by looking at her surroundings. Shaw hated this part of town. Even the damn sidewalks were pretentious, and she tried not to sneer as she turned down a side street.

The dusty and mud streaked van that she walked towards looked out of place in the expensive neighbourhood and, not for the first time, Shaw wondered if it had been left like that on purpose, just to make their presence known. Shaw knocked on the back door and waited a beat before opening it.

"You're late," Michael Cole said. He hadn't even turned to look at her, just continued to set up his surveillance equipment. Shaw rolled her eyes at him. "Shut the door, it's freezing," he added.

Shaw did as he asked and sat on the one and only free chair in the van.

"What have we got?" she asked.

"Not sure," said Cole. "But they own the entire top floor," he added gesturing with his hand in, presumably, the direction of an apartment building.

Shaw peered past him at one of the monitors depicting, at the moment, nothing but static.

"What's with our eyes and ears?" Shaw asked, nodding at the monitor.

Cole glanced at her briefly before turning back to fiddle with the wire in his hand. "Apparently the client is refusing to have camera's set up."

"Why?" Shaw asked with a frown. Setting up audio and visual surveillance, as well as a round the clock detail of five personal security officers, was their top package. And in this part of town, the clients _always_ went for the top package.

Cole shrugged. "But, uh… You Know Who is inside."

"Seriously?" said Shaw, her brow creasing as she stared at Cole.

"Yep. Client requested the boss himself," said Cole. "You'd better get up there."

"Shit," said Shaw under her breath.

Cole smirked. "At least he didn't fire you," he said reasonably. "Which, by the way… you never _did_ tell me how you managed to avoid that one."

This time Shaw was the one that smirked.

"Because I'm still the best in the damn business," she said brazenly and let herself out of the van.

"Yeah, well," Cole called to her, "he's still pissed at you. You screw up this time and he _will_ fire you."

"Yeah, yeah," said Shaw, brushing off his concerns and heading towards the apartment building that housed their new client.

Shaw sized up the security automatically as she walked in: doorman and security camera watching the front entrance, deadbolt lock on the door. The doorman waved her in when she told him who she was and Shaw headed up to the top floor.

She found her boss talking to the client when she walked into the apartment. His back was turned to her and Shaw took the opportunity to have a quick glance around. The apartment was huge (and pretentious, she thought disgustedly), with two floors and a living room that looked twice the size of her whole apartment put together. The client himself was dressed in an expensive suit and shoes. He was old fashionably handsome and that, coupled with his wealth, had probably set him up alright for life. He frowned at her when he caught a glimpse of her, bringing his conversation to an abrupt halt and the other man turned to face her.

"Ah, good," said Shaw's boss.

George Hersh stepped towards her and grabbed her by the elbow. "You're late," he hissed, but when he turned back around to face the client again he was all smiles. "This is Ms. Shaw," said Hersh leading her towards the client. "She's my best PSO."

The client stared briefly at her for a moment, clearly not impressed. "The best?" he said sceptically. Shaw noted the British accent, and filed the information away for later in case it became important. "Her?" the client continued and Shaw tried her best not glare.

Hersh smiled warmly. "Oh yes. Shaw here has quite the extensive training. Former marine, little dip into intelligence support… and some medical experience," Hersh added.

The client looked a little surprised at that. "Medical?"

"I told you," said Hersh, "only the best."

"Alright," said the client eventually. "I suppose you'll want to meet her."

"Her?" said Shaw, glancing at Hersh.

"My wife," said the client. He held up a finger apologetically as his phone began to ring. "Sorry, I have to take this," he said and slipped out of the room.

"Wife?" said Shaw through gritted teeth.

"She's the principal," Hersh said and she thought she caught the hint of a smirk on his face.

"You've got me babysitting a housewife?" said Shaw, doing her best to keep her temper in check. "Is this a punishment?"

"No," said Hersh gently, but she didn't believe him. "The client wanted the best. And you're still the best, despite your… mistake."

Shaw snorted. Mistake wasn't the word she would have used for it and she wondered if Hersh was ever going to let it go.

"So what are we dealing with here?" she asked, resigned to her fate and realising that if she pushed this, if she refused, Hersh would indeed get rid of her. "Stalker? Or…"

"Someone tried to kill her," said Hersh.

Shaw raised her eyebrow in surprise. "Who?"

"Don't know yet," said Hersh. "But that isn't your concern." Shaw disagreed with that but didn't argue the point.

Hersh handed her a folder with all the information about her new client that she _did_ need to know. Hersh made to leave but turned around before he reached the door.

"Stick to this one like glue," he said. "Twenty-four seven."

"How many other PSO's we got?" Shaw asked, skimming through the folder in her hand but not really looking at it.

"Just you," said Hersh.

"You're kidding," said Shaw in annoyance.

"Client's request," said Hersh, putting on his mock friendly voice that he always did when dealing with particularly fussy customers. "But if you'd rather I got Wilson in on this…"

"Fine," said Shaw, sighing heavily. There was no way she'd let Wilson take a job from her. She'd never hear the end of it.

"And try to be polite," said Hersh. "These people are paying us a lot of money."

Shaw rolled her eyes. "I get it. Don't piss off the rich people," she said flatly.

"Oh, and one more thing," said Hersh, halfway out the door and Shaw wondered if he would ever leave. Hersh looked at her, his expression turning serious. "Don't shoot this one. No matter how tempted you are."

Shaw clenched her jaw at that and watched him leave before making her way further into the house. She found the husband in a hallway, still talking into his phone and he gestured to a room down the other end of the hall. Shaw went where he directed and knocked softly on the door before letting herself in.

The sole occupant of the room was a woman, tall and with slightly curled chestnut hair. She had her back to Shaw, staring out the window. Shaw didn't blame her. The view of Central Park from up here was pretty spectacular.

"Um, Mrs…" Shaw trailed off, realising that she didn't know the client's name and fumbled with the folder in her hand.

"Groves," said the woman. "Samantha Groves. I kept my own name."

"Oh, right" said Shaw and closed the file again. "Ms. Groves then. I'm Shaw."

"What, no first name?" said Groves, glancing over her shoulder with a playful smirk on her face.

Shaw cleared her throat and didn't respond.

The smile fell from Groves' face and she turned to face the window again. "I didn't ask for a bodyguard."

"Personal security officer," Shaw corrected.

Shaw could see Groves smirk from her reflection against the window. "Whatever," she muttered.

Shaw frowned. "Someone tried to kill you," she said as if Groves wasn't well aware of that fact herself.

Groves laughed flippantly and Shaw wasn't sure how to respond to that. She wondered if it was PTSD – and wouldn't _that _just make this job a whole lot messier.

"That doesn't concern you?" Shaw asked.

Groves shrugged, turning from the window and stepping closer to Shaw, eyeing her up and down deliberately.

"You don't seem like the kind of person who would be a bodyguard," said Groves, changing the subject.

"Personal security officer," Shaw said automatically. Then she paused, realising that she might have just been insulted and she glanced up at Groves with an affronted look. "What kind of person do I seem like?"

Groves shrugged. "Someone who likes to do something more… _fun_," she said coyly taking a step closer, and Shaw wondered if she was imagining the implications in that one word.

"You don't seem like the kind of woman who would be a housewife," Shaw countered.

Groves smiled slightly in a way that Shaw found difficult to interpret, like it was trying to hide a secret in its dazzle of white teeth.

"And what kind of woman _do _I seem like?" Groves asked and this time when she stepped forward, they were barely an inch apart. Groves' eyes darted downwards ever so briefly and Shaw found herself licking her lips involuntary. She caught the smirk on Groves' mouth and took a deliberate step backwards, reminding herself that this was a client, this was the _principal_, and a married one at that.

"One who is going to get herself killed if she doesn't do as I say," said Shaw.

Groves smiled widely. "So, it's going to be like that, huh? I _do_ love a woman who likes to take charge."

Shaw swallowed thickly and opened her mouth to respond; with what she didn't know, but luckily the husband walked in and she didn't have to. It was like someone had slapped her to her senses though and she took a few more steps backwards, blending into the surroundings, just like any good security detail would do.

"Getting along?" the husband asked. His wife just stared at him stonily and he quickly cleared his throat and turned to Shaw. Shaw took note of it though, the way Groves seemed to stiffen up as soon as he walked in. And she remembered what Groves had said about not wanting a bodyguard, realised that the husband had probably hired their firm without her permission.

"There's a room for you down the hall if you'd like to get settled in," said the husband. Shaw realised she still didn't know his name. She really did need to check out that file as soon as she got a chance.

"No thanks," said Shaw. "I'd like to take a look around the house first." She knew Hersh had probably already searched the place himself, but Shaw preferred to do her own sweep. Plus it would give her some needed distance from this new client that Shaw wasn't sure what to make of.

"Alright," said the husband. "But my study is off limits."

Shaw nodded and watched carefully as he turned towards his wife, opened his mouth to say something and then thought better of it, disappearing out of the room awkwardly.

As soon as he had gone, Groves gathered up her jacket and purse.

"Where are you going?" Shaw said with a frown, stepping towards the door to block her way.

"Out," said Groves.

"You can't just leave," said Shaw annoyed. "We need to know where you are going so we can plan a safe route, make sure the place gets cleared first."

Groves rolled her eyes. "I'm just going to the store," she said rationally. "Come if you want."

"I don't want," snapped Shaw, following her out the door. "It's my job."

"Is it your job to be exaggeratedly paranoid?" Groves tossed over her shoulder lightly.

Shaw gritted her teeth and started to think that maybe this wasn't going to be as easy a job as she had initially thought it would be.

Shaw clicked on her earpiece. "Cole, we're going out." Groves glanced at her curiously, but Shaw ignored her.

"_What?_" Cole responded, sounding alarmed. "Where? Hersh hasn't given me a list of routine locations yet."

"Store, apparently," said Shaw vaguely, glancing at Groves' back in annoyance.

"Didn't you tell her –" Cole began.

"I'm here to keep the rich people happy, Cole," Shaw muttered bitterly but could tell by the smile on Groves' face that she had heard her.

_And alive,_ Shaw added quietly to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

"Which colour do you prefer?" Groves held up two identical blouses, one bright yellow, the other pea green.

"I don't care," said Shaw, even though she thought they both looked horrific.

Groves smirked, putting both tops back on the rack and Shaw thought her face might have betrayed her thoughts a little.

"Aren't you done yet?" Shaw asked haughtily. "We've been here for three hours."

"Haven't you ever been on a shopping spree before?" Groves asked, moving to another rack and skimming through the articles of clothing. "Or is all black your customary outfit?"

Shaw scowled and didn't say anything.

Groves glanced up at her with a smirk. "Thought so."

Shaw gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the numerous shopping bags she was carrying for Groves. "Oh, and by the way," said Shaw tightly, "I'm a personal security officer, not a mule."

"Yes," Groves agreed, "but one who is getting paid a lot of money by my husband."

"To protect you," Shaw said, "not to carry your crap."

"I don't see anyone trying to kill me now," Groves pointed out breezily.

"That's really not the point," Shaw said wearily as Groves disappeared behind another rack.

"Okay, Shaw," said Cole through her earpiece. "I've managed to get some eyes."

"About time," Shaw snapped under her breath.

"Sorry," said Cole, not sounding apologetic, "but if you'd given me some more of a heads up, I could have hacked in before you arrived."

"Don't blame me," Shaw grumbled. "Blame the principal."

"Okay, I've found you," said Cole. "Wow, you look like you are having lots of fun, Shaw."

But Shaw ignored his sarcastic glee. "You see anything?"

"Nope," said Cole, going back to business, "just your average customers. The only thing that looks out of place is you. Could you at least _try_ to smile?"

Shaw glanced up at the nearest security camera and glared at him.

Shaw could hear Cole snigger, despite the fact that he tried to hide it. "That's kind of the exact opposite of what I meant, but whatever. How much longer do you think you are going to be?" he added.

"Fuck knows," Shaw muttered in response and received an odd look from one of the other shoppers, Shaw ignored them though. "Who needs this many clothes?" she asked, looking at the shopping bags in her hands. Groves had bought more clothes in the last hour than Shaw would require in a year, and that was including the clothes she ruined due to her occupation.

"I guess that's how the other half lives," said Cole. "If I had that kind of money, I'd buy like ten cars, a house with a pool in Miami… get that private jet I've always wanted."

Shaw snorted. "What would _you_ do with a private jet?"

"Uh, Shaw?" said Cole and Shaw noted the slight hitch of alarm to his tone. "Where did she go?"

Shaw glanced around and realised she had lost sight of the principal. "Shit," said Shaw, dumping the bags of shopping at her feet. "Do you see her?"

Shaw doubled back a few racks but there was no sign of Groves anywhere. "_Cole_?" Shaw snapped.

"No," Cole stammered. "I can't see her."

Shaw swore under her breath. She was pretty sure this was what Hersh had meant by not making any mistakes and she could already picture just how pissed off he would be if she screwed this up the first day on the job. "Cole?" she said again.

"There's a blind spot to your left," said Cole.

Shaw went where he directed, realised his "blind spot" was the woman's changing rooms: little curtained-off cubicles along a lengthy corridor. Shaw stalked done the narrow hall, glancing in each cubicle as she passed. They were all empty apart from the one at the end, which had its curtain firmly closed. Shaw walked over to it without thinking and tore the curtain open.

Groves didn't even flinch, just turned around with her eyebrow quirked in amusement. It took Shaw a moment to realise she was naked from the waist up. It took her even _longer_ to realise that she was staring and she had to force her eyes upwards to look Groves in the eye and was met with a smug smirk.

"If you wanted to help me change," said Groves, not even bothering to cover herself up, "all you had to do was ask."

Shaw found her eyes wandering downwards again and she had to force herself not to lick her lips at the sight of hardened nipples. Shaw snapped her eyes upwards once again and cleared her throat.

"Uh…" she said, then realised she didn't have a clue what to say. So she left, disappearing back the way she had come, and she was pretty sure Groves was laughing at her as she leaned against the wall at the entrance to the changing rooms.

"Shaw?" said Cole, who must have spotted her on one of the security cameras. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," Shaw said hurriedly.

"Are you okay?" Cole asked slowly.

"Yep," said Shaw, a little breathless, and smacked her head against the wall behind her.

"Uh, okay," said Cole, not sounding convinced, but he didn't push her on it.

Shaw shook her head in annoyance, because _really?_ Any normal person would have knocked first. But she hadn't been thinking straight. She had been thinking about how pissed Hersh would be, how she was hanging onto her job by a thread and she was most definitely _not _thinking about how this new client of hers seemed to be so good at pushing every single one of Shaw's buttons when they had only met each other four hours ago.

But instead of getting embarrassed by it, Shaw just used it to fuel her impatience and she was determined to wipe that stupid smug smirk off of Groves' face as soon as Shaw saw her walk out of the changing rooms.

"Okay, I think we need to establish some ground rules," Shaw said testily and tried to bite back her annoyance when Groves just breezed past her. "Rule number one," Shaw continued regardless, keeping Groves within her line of sight and almost stepping on her heels as she hurried to keep up, "no wandering off."

"I thought 'do as you say' was rule number one," Groves said absently as she hung a piece of clothing back on the rack.

Shaw rolled her eyes. "Fine," she snapped. "Do as I say and don't wander off: two number one rules."

"Well, they can't both be number one," Groves pointed out and Shaw had to bite the inside of her mouth to stop herself from saying something that would likely get her fired. Cole's sniggering in her ear wasn't helping either.

"I'm really starting to like this woman," Cole said cheerfully.

"Shut up," Shaw muttered under her breath and followed Groves to the cash register.

Groves glanced at her over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. "Where's my shopping?"

Shaw gritted her teeth and headed back to the section of the store where she had dumped the bags, gathering them up into her hands. Groves followed her dutifully, but it was only so she could hand Shaw her latest purchase. Shaw snatched it off her with more force than necessary.

"Can we go now?" Shaw asked.

"We're done shopping," Groves said and led Shaw out of the store.

"Well, thank fuck for small miracles," Shaw muttered.

"You know," said Cole absently in her ear, "I'm starting to notice a pattern with this woman and your vocabulary..."

"Shut up, Cole."

But instead of leading them out of the department store like Shaw had been expecting, Groves took them onto an escalator and up to another floor.

"I thought you said you were done," Shaw said coolly.

"I said we were done shopping," Groves tossed over her shoulder lightly.

Shaw narrowed her eyes and decided she didn't like where this was going and her concerns were confirmed when Groves got off the escalator and paused outside another part of the store.

"You have got to be kidding me," Shaw said faintly.

"Please tell me you are getting a mani-pedi?" said Cole ecstatically. "But wait until I get my recording equipment set up… Wilson's gonna love this."

"I hate you," Shaw muttered to him and followed Groves inside.

And she was most definitely _not_ getting a manicure or pedicure or anything else that required someone coming near her, a fact that she made very clear to the first shop assistant who came over to her, clutching different brands of make-up in her hand. Shaw's glare and terse dismal sent her running and if Groves seemed phased by her new bodyguard's unpleasantness, she didn't allow it to show, just kept her face neutral and made small talk with the woman giving her a manicure.

Shaw stepped away from them a little, still with Groves in her line of sight, still near enough for Shaw to do something quickly if anything happened.

"Tell me about our principal," she said to Cole, thinking that if she was going to be standing around here bored, she may as well be listening to something useful.

"Didn't you read the file?" Cole asked.

"I didn't exactly have time," Shaw snapped in annoyance.

"Uh, okay," said Cole and she heard the shuffling of papers as Cole got out his own file. "Samantha Groves… thirty-one years old… been married just shy of two years. Used to work freelance at her husband's company, that's how they met."

"Freelance doing what?" Shaw asked.

"Something with computers," said Cole vaguely.

"That's it?" said Shaw. "_Something_ with computers. Isn't this supposed to be your area of expertise?"

"There's nothing in the file," Cole said defensively, "which probably means that whatever it was, the company wants it kept confidential."

"Whatever," Shaw muttered, but she did wonder absently if Groves' work was the reason she had a hit out on her.

"Anyway," Cole continued, "she hasn't done any work for them since she got married."

"What has she been doing since then?" Shaw asked, disregarding her previous theory but not totally keeping it out of her mind.

"Dunno," said Cole. "Charity work? What do bored rich people do?"

"No idea," said Shaw, watching closely as Groves laughed at something the make-up assistant said. It was a throaty laugh, one that carried over like a breeze to where Shaw was standing and she found the sound wasn't all that unpleasant to her ears. Shaw shook her head and focused on what Cole was saying.

"Shouldn't you be asking the principal this, anyway?" Cole asked. "You are the primary PSO on this. What's all that crap Hersh is always spouting about forming a bond?"

Shaw snorted. "Hersh hired me because I _don't_ get attached. And besides," she added, "I'm the _only_ PSO on this."

"All the more reason why you _should_ be talking to her about it," Cole pointed out.

"Whatever," she muttered, although she knew that he was right. She couldn't do her job properly if she didn't know every detail of Groves' life, and Groves herself was the fastest way to get that information.

About thirty minutes later, Groves was done with her manicure and she smiled brightly at Shaw on her way out. Shaw snatched up the shopping bags and followed her.

"_Now_ are you done?" Shaw asked.

Groves glanced at her and slowed her pace so that Shaw could catch up. "Maybe," she said, eyeing Shaw up and down.

Shaw narrowed her eyes suspiciously, wondering what else Groves could possibly need to do and just how much Cole was going to enjoy himself watching her suffer through it.

"Relax," said Groves. "How about some lunch?"

It wasn't really a question because Shaw had no choice but to follow and Groves led them down to one of the lower levels where there were a couple of restaurants. One of the waiters must have known Groves because he led them straight to a table, despite the long queue of other people waiting to get in.

Shaw sat down, making sure her back wasn't to the room and that she could see the front, and took the menu the waiter handed her.

Groves ordered her usual and Shaw glanced at the menu briefly before placing her own order and handing the menu back, her eyes darting about the room almost simultaneously. When her eyes rested back on Groves, the other woman was watching her carefully.

"What?" asked Shaw.

Groves shrugged and waited for the waiter to put their drinks down and disappear before speaking. "Is it because my husband is paying your expenses that you just ordered the most expensive thing off the menu?"

"No," said Shaw sullenly, who hadn't even realised it _was_ the most expensive thing off the menu. "I like steak. And I'm hungry." Besides, she had skipped breakfast that morning in her rush to get across town, she could do with the protein.

Groves smirked at her around her glass of wine before taking a healthy gulp.

Shaw frowned. "You always drink in the middle of the day?"

Groves shrugged. "Nothing else to do."

"What, no freelance work?" Shaw asked.

Groves smiled at her slightly, like she was impressed that Shaw knew about that part of her life. Or maybe she was just surprised that Shaw was attempting to make small talk. Shaw knew _she_ was, and so was Cole judging by the snickering coming over the earpiece and the muttered "try to be nice" he offered as a piece of friendly advice.

Shaw ignored him though. His job was to be her eyes and ears, not to tell her how to interact with the principal. Even if he had on more than one occasion helped her to do just that. But with Groves it felt different, and she didn't like the way Cole sat heavily in her ear, the way he could hear everything, like he was intruding on something that should have remained private. Shaw didn't know what to make of the feeling, all she knew was that she felt uncomfortable about the whole thing, that she was out of her element and she was starting to think that this job, this _client_, was a little more complicated than she had initially been expecting.

And she wondered how much that had to do with the woman sitting in front of her and the way she had easily got under Shaw's skin so quickly.

They lapsed into silence, but Shaw didn't mind it. She preferred it and she attacked her steak with relish when it arrived and only paused when she glanced up to look at Groves and realised she wasn't actually eating anything, just moving the salad around on her plate with her fork.

"So when you said lunch," said Shaw slowly, "you meant a liquid lunch?"

Groves started a little and popped a piece of emerald green lettuce in her mouth as if she were trying to prove something. But then she swallowed back the remainder of her wine glass and it kind of lost its effect. She sat back, arms folded as she stared silently at Shaw.

Shaw wasn't all that fond of people watching her eat and she dropped the fork onto her plate with half her steak unfinished and sat back, matching Groves' stare.

It made her wonder though, the not eating and the drinking, just how well Groves was handling all this. She was hiding it well, Shaw thought, but she also thought she could see something at the edge of Groves' look, like she wasn't quite all there, like part of her had disappeared along with the man who had tried to kill her.

"We should get back," Groves said eventually and waved the waiter over to pay their bill.

Shaw said nothing and watched silently as Groves stood up, steady on her feet despite the glass of wine on an empty stomach. Shaw snatched up the bags of shopping and followed her out of the restaurant.

"Cole, we're leaving," she said, knowing it was redundant, knowing that he was watching them both carefully.


End file.
